candidates. That paper, brought out under these auspices, contained the following sentences in an article called

"The Socialist Outlook in the Transvaal,' by Our Rand Correspondent':-'A large portion of the Uitlander working class regard the Labour Party's cheap white remedy as far worse than the Chinese disease.'"

The other sentence he would read was

more material and important, and appeared under the sub-title

"Chinese, or low paid whites'. We have what is probably the larger portion of Rand working men in favour of Chinese for unskilled work."

and further down, the writer continued

"The average miner rather prefers to be safe from competition by having Chinese, under legislative enactment, than by having a huge number of unskilled whites, gradually becoming skilled, to step into his shoes."

He thought he had shown that the Labour Party was not agreed on this question. He came now to his second point. He thought that his right hon. friend the Colonial Secretary must have satisfied everyone on that side of the House, except the hon. and gallant Member for Isle of Wight, that South Africa was not a white man's country. [An HON. MEMBER on the MINISTERIAL BENCHES No.] Well, at all events it was not a white man's country in the same sense that the United States or our own Colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were white men's countries. If any hon. Member doubted that, he would quote Mr. Moor, Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, and one of the delegates of Natal to the Conference in Bloemfontein, whose resolution he had recited. That Gentleman stated that in South Africa the coloured population was six to one of white men, in his own colony the proportion was still greater, viz., ten to one. It was true that in South Africa there were one or two dying races, the Hottentots and Bushmen, but the situation in other respects was far different from that in the United States, where the red man was now practically extinct, from Australia where the Aborigines were practically extinct, and from New Zealand where the Maoris were fast going. In South Africa every variety of the Bantu tribes seemed to increase in proximity to the white races at the most astonishing rate. The rate was not less rapid than that of the

negroes in the United States. If that were so, they could never expect to have South Africa a white man's country, in the sense that New Zealand and Australia were white men's countries. What of India? India was not a white man's country, although it was the brightest jewel in the crown of England, and many Englishmen went there to work. South Africa was, in regard to black and coloured labour in an intermediate position between India on the one hand and Australia on the other. But it was an essential factor in the problem that the supply of labour was insufficient. Already additional labour had been brought into the country from India. Why draw a distinction between black labour and yellow labour? He believed labour in Natal was regarded by the inthat there was a suggestion that Indian habitants in that colony as unsatisfactory; but if hon. Gentlemen would refer to the report of the Bloemfontein Conference they would see that the Prime Minister of Natal, Sir Albert Hime, moved Resolution to the following effect

"That in the opinion of this Conference the permanent settlement in South Africa of Asiatic races would be injurious, and should not be permitted; but that, if industrial development skilled Asiatic labourers, under a system of positively requires it, the introduction of unGovernment control providing for the indenturing of such labourers and their repatriation at the termination of their indentures, should

be permissible."

An Amendment was proposed to that resolution which began

66

That this Conference is of opinion that South Africa is essentially a white man's country,"

but it was abandoned and merged in the resolution, which he had quoted at the outset, in regard to the introduction of non-African labour. Could anything be clearer than that? Even in South Africa it was fully recognised that it was not a white man's country. [An HON. MEmber: Is that Lord Milner's view?] He did not know, he was only concerned with the fact that the Bloemfontein Conference, which was presided over by Lord Milner, passed the resolution he had read, and that it was recorded without protest. He

now

came to the last portion of the second point-"Were the Chinese worse than other people?" Perhaps he had

seen as much of the Chinese people as most hon. Members in the House-in their own country, in San Francisco, and elsewhere and he had seen no evidence to show that the Chinese were worse than any European or Asiatic nation. He would venture to refer to the opinion of a gentleman whom he had met on board a steamer, who for a long time was a member of the Legislative Council and a planter in a West Indian colony. That gentleman told him that in the province of Demerara the Chinese formed an excellent part of the population, that they were superior to other immigrants, that they were orderly and well conducted, and that they equipped and maintained their Christian churches better than the other members of the community. He would quote another great authority, the celebrated American missionary to China, Dr. Wells Williams. That gentleman, who had lived forty-three years in China and wrote the standard book on China, entitled "The Middle Kingdom," said, after referring to the religious characteristics of Chinamen"To these traits of Chinese character may be added the preservative features of their regard for parents and superiors, and their general peaceful industry. If there be any connection between the former of these virtues and the promise attached to the Fifth Commandment, That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,' then the long duration of the Chinese people and the Empire is a stupendous monument of the good effects of a partial obedience to the law of God by those who only, had it inscribed on their hearts, and not written in their hands."

He would give one other corroboration of the evidence as to the value and merit of the Chinese. Some twenty years ago Mr. Seward, bearing a name honoured among American statesmen, who subsequently became American Minister at Pekin, set himself to write a book on the effects of Chinese immigration into California, and bore testimony to the splendid work which the Chinese did in the mining towns of the Pacific slope. Their labour compared favourably with that of the Cornish miners. His hon. and gallant friend sitting behind him, who was intimately connected with Canada, had told him that many parts of Canada could not have been built up without the assistance of Chinese labour. It had been said that wherever Chinese had been introduced, the step had been followed by

deplorable results; but that might be alleged of any place where men were herded together. The Colonial Secretary had told the House that statutory permission would be given for these men to bring their wives with them, and that would prevent any evil results following. Those who knew anything about China were aware that in China a man could only have one legal wife. There was some recognition of regularised concubines, but it was to be inferred that the Colonial Secretary would exclude these from the Transvaal. He ventured to express the belief that the provisions which had been made by way of safeguard would entirely obviate the evils which had been brought to his notice a few days ago, and which made him doubt whether he should vote on this occasion. The letter of the Bishop of Worcester to The Times and the speeches of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester had made him regard this as a most serious matter, and he had gone so far as to tell one of the Whips that his vote could not be relied on on this occasion. However, he had gone into the matter very carefully, and he believed that there was no danger at all. He should vote for the Government. A gentleman in the Indian Civil Service told him how recruits were enlisted for the Assam tea gardens. They were led to believe that they would have good wages and an easy time; but when they went to Assam, they found that they had to sign a contract involving onerous conditions of which they had previously no idea. That would not be the case with the Chinese because a certificate would not be granted to the person importing them unless an officer were fully satisfied that they understood the conditions. He would vote for the Government because he believed that this movement need only be temporary, because it was urgently necessary, and because if they hampered or delayed the Government they would be retarding the development of an important part of the British Empire.

SIR HENRY FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.): I will, with the permission of the House, state briefly the reasons for my vote, which I am indisposed to give

to protest against indentured labour and against the Chinese slavery which the Ordinance sale-guarded. He had no prejudice against the Chinaman. His virtues, not his vices, were to be exploited to his own detriment and to the white man's undoing, by men who were not as virtuous as the Chinaman they sought to use. As to the Chinaman's morality, it was comparable to the morality of drunkard Rhodesians from Throgmorton Street, who, on Friday night at the Covent Garden ball, in the presence of Inspector French, displayed more disgusting immorality than he himself had ever seen in Chinatown, San Francisco. He did not protest against the Chinaman as a Chinaman, but he protested against 10,000 men of any nationality being violently dumped down in the heart of any community at the instance of Sir George Farrar, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Beit, and other patriots who sung "God save the King" in broken English, and wanted an interpreter for the top notes. Those men were to be dumped down in South Africa because their character and susceptibilities were such that, collectively, they could be used to violently drag down the standard of life and comfort, and incidentally the standard of the morality of the community, into which they had been projected.

The Colonies were against this Ordinance. Mr. Deakin, Mr. Seddon, and all white Australia were opposed to it. In March, 1903, Sir George Farrar's own miners passed a resolution dead against it. Mr. Mather, to whom the Colonial Secretary had referred as being in favour of the importation of Chinese labour, was present at that meeting and appealed for fairness for Sir George Farrar, who made a strong and vigorous speech against the importation. If he had changed his views he was not the only one who had done so. Lord Milner, up to 1903, was against it, and he did not believe that the late Colonial Secretary could be quoted in favour of it. White labour in South Africa was also against it. Meetings had been held and petitions adopted against it, and there was a celebrated meeting to which 500 miners were sent at 15s. a head to howl down speakers who denounced Chinese labour; but these men in their hearts did not want

it. Both organised and unorganised labour was opposed to it. Who were for it? Ex-Jameson raiders, mineowners, and official members of the Legislative Council. What did the Colonial Secretary say about it himself? He had only one plea, and that was necessity which knows no law. He gave them a long, ingenious, subtle legal argument, but that was the only plea it contained, and that was the plea with which the thief was confronted every day of his life. Necessity was, that which stood between all of us, and that declension which marked us off from being honest men. But our forebears did not allow necessity to weigh with them when they gave £20,000,000 for emancipation. If only hon. Members could see, as he had seen on both the East and West Coasts of Africa, our gunboats chasing Arab dhows and our sailors working their very hearts out in pursuit of slave raiders, and with the object of saving human souls, they would hesitate to accept the plea of necessity. Where was the necessity? There were 120 gold mining companies, with £57,000,000 of capital, and a value of £174,000,000, and in the last few years they had payed £20,000,000 in dividends, ranging from 5 to 187 per cent. Necessity knew no law. Greed knew no limitation. The Colonial Secretary had told them there were 30,000 natives short, and he had insisted, on that ground, that the opposition to the proposal should drop. The question of submitting the point to a referendum had been raised. Well as to a referendum, on the question of slavery he would not have dictation from any colony. He did not care whether there was a referendum or not. If there were one the mine-owners would manipulate it and it would be corrupt. It would be one appealing to greed and to the lowest feelings, and the men would be told to vote for it because it would be the salvation of Africa. If they were to have Chinese labour in South Africa let them have it direct from the Colonial Secretary and after a long discussion in Parliament. Who were the Commissioners they were supposed to respect? Four out of the seven of the majority on the Commission were ex-Jameson raiders-men who confessed to being either liars, forgers, or conspirators, and he refused to accept